From his original base at Toorak Cellars, Lyndon Kubis, along with business partners Renton Carlyle and Mark Hopkinson, have expanded into territory less well serviced, including Milton in Malvern and the notoriously dry zone of Surrey Hills (not to be confused with Sydney’s Surry hills, which is afforded much better amenity) in Melbourne’s east, with the Hills. The model has been built around the Italo-transplant enoteca mould pioneered here by the likes of the City Wine Shop and Gertrude Street Enoteca.
The Alps, in Commercial Road Prahran, is in the same mould, with ostensibly a wine retail space made much more comfortable with a sympathetically refined interior, as well as the availability of classic wine bar snacks – charcuterie, pickles, salumi, gravlax and the like. The high-altitude nomenclature is picked up throughout the wine offer, with a lean towards the regions flanked by the Alps – Savoie, Jura, Burgundy, Piedmont, the Veneto. The occasional pair of skis or stocks, and a snow-themed print or two keep the Alpine theme running, as does the private ‘cabin’, and the scent of pine trees in the rear courtyard.
Overall, while the vibe is very much built around Tintin in Tibet, the brief is far from restrictive across the wine and food offer. The Alps is very much what we’ve come to expect from Kubis and co, as is the super-informed and ultra-relaxed service. The wine selection, either take away or in-house with modest corkage, runs to 400 bins with 20 by the glass, and while typically taking roads less travelled, it is a more than inclusive selection.
A great addition to Melbourne’s drink-in wine stores, Public Wine Shop takes things a step further with the delightfully elegant plates of Ali Currey-Voumard in a super relaxed room. The vibe here is organic, hand-made and gently handled – for everything, from cider to food.
Little Andorra has the warm wood, terrazzo and whitewash interior of Melbourne’s classic Euro-leaning bars, with vinyl spinning and a killer wine list it makes perching at that bar irresistible, but don’t miss booking for Mertcan Dogusgen’s set-menu feast.
Winespeake Cellar + Deli is Daylesford’s new wine and cheese mecca. Well, that’s true and untrue at the same time. Winespeake is the evolution of Jen and Owen Latta’s Wine & The Country, Daylesford’s previous wine and food mecca. Thankfully, closing the doors on their much-loved seven-year-old wine-store-wine-bar-deli in the middle of a global pandemic…
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